The dragon and the wolf
by Oannah
Summary: In which the Dragonborn and the companions's new harbinger need to work together against a single enemy. Mostly follows the events of the game with some sidetracking.
1. Prologue

**Author's note: Hello! I really hope you enjoy this story and know that constructive comments are always welcomed! English isn't my first language so if you see some mistakes please let me know!**

 **Disclamer: All the universe and characters belong to Bethesda.**

"I've been looking for you. Got something I'm supposed to deliver - your hands only."

A courier's voice was the first thing Ellyra heard when she pushed the door into Jorrvaskr. She was almost convinced he was talking to Aela, who was entering the mead hall just behind her. It was quite a surprise when he handed her a sealed letter. Her eyes went to her fellow companions. The whelps were sitting at the table, but none of them was looking at their food: they were watching the courier. The twin brothers, Farkas and Vilkas, stood by each side of the Courier. The poor man seemed quite small next to the two intimidating giants. Ellyra could not remember the last time courier had entered Jorrvaskr.

"We told him we would give you the letter when you come back, but the man insisted" Vilkas said in his thick, nord accent. "He waited for you while you were... _busy_."

Vilkas knew that she had been gone hunting with Aela. The Companions were serious on that matter: no one could know that the members of the Circle were werewolves. There was no way they could send the courier after her when she was gone hunting.

While the delivery man left the mead hall, the woman observed the seal on the letter. she recognized it quickly as her family crest. It had been almost a year since the last time they had contacted her. Her fingers got rid of the seal in a hurry to find out what was written. After reading the few words that the letter contained, she made it disappear in her pocket.

"What was it?" Aela asked.

"Business. Just someone asking the companions for help. I'll take care of it."

Most of the companions just went back to concentrate on their food. Yet, the Circle was not very convinced. They had seen her face change as she was reading the letter: her eyes widening, her expression darkened… Her shadow disappeared through the door of the living quarters. Vilkas exchanged a look with his shield-siblings before the three of them went after her, down the stairs and into the dark yet cozy basement.

Under the dim light of a single candle, Ellyra was packing some essential objects into a bag: some food, potions, warm clothes… She was not aware of her actions since she had read the letter: although short, its words echoed endlessly in her mind, urging her to act as fast as possible. She barely even noticed when the rest of the Circle entered her room. They stood there in silence, waiting for her to notice their presence. It was Aela voice that brought her back to reality:

"Are you sure that this is about the companions?"

Ellyra stared at her friends and shrugged.

"All I can tell you is that it's personal business. Please trust me on this."

"Kodlak trusted you enough to let you become Harbinger." Vilkas declared after a short moment. "I shall do the same."

The woman could feel that the nord was not entirely convinced by his own answer.

"I'll be back before any of you can worry. I promise."

On that note, she grabbed her bag and left her shield-siblings and Jorrvaskr behind. Deep down, she knew that they were already worried. Yet, they did not need to know about the goal of her journey: as it could not be considered noble.


	2. Kynesgrove

The north of Eastmarch was nothing but a frozen wasteland. It was the middle of winter and the weather was bad: a blizzard raged, making all the wildlife hide in search of a bit of warmth. The ground was covered in snow, as it always was near Windhelm, but the terrible weather had most people locked up in their homes, near the fire. Even bandits and thieves were nowhere to be seen, as they hid in caves and fortress to escape the cold. The wind was like a long a desperate howl that would never end, as if the blizzard would last forever.

A wanderer walked alone in the cold, a single dark dot in the blizzard. His feet moved slowly but surely through the thick snow that covered the ground, following the path as best as he could. His hands were holding onto a steel axe, on which the frost had caught. The man did not bother to put his weapon away, even if there was nothing to be seen in that blizzard. The only thing he feared to find in that snow was a colony of ice wraiths: the weather was propitious for them to come to this part of Eastmarch. He had not seen any since the blizzard started, but he preferred to keep his axe ready.

He squinted to look at the horizon. Nothing could tell if he was close to his goal, or even if he was still on the right path. For all he knew, he could have been completely lost but he refused to stop. In that weather, the only thing stopping would bring was death. Instead, he uncorked a bottle of mead to feel the warmth of alcohol in his body. Even if it was stupid, he had run out of resist cold potions a while ago, as he did not know that the weather was going to be this bad. The man closed his eyes for a moment, concentrating on the effect of the mead. He felt his energy regaining his body, although he knew it was just for a moment. That was the annoying part of mead: what it gives, it takes away soon after.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself face to face with an imperial woman. She was staring at him with her tired grey eyes. Her eyebrows were covered in frost: she had been outside for a while. She had a swirl of war paint starting from her eyes and ending on her cheek, but the paint was so pale it made it look like a frost bite. That dark circles around her eyes was what stood out the most from her face: it was obvious that she had not slept in a while. At her sight, the man took a step back. She did not look like a bandit: her armor looked too expensive for that. Plus, she did not ready her weapons. It did not convince him to sheathe his, though.

"Are you heading to Windhelm?" she asked, her voice breaking through the howling wind.

"I'm not. Why do you care?" his was sharp, and his nord accent was showing.

"They won't let an imperial woman into their city. I've been stuck outside for three days."

It was not the first time he had learned that Windhelm was refusing people to enter the city. These days, they thought almost everyone other than the Nords were Imperial spies. After all, Windhelm was the home of the rebellion.

"And why would I help you?"

"Because it doesn't hurt to help?"

They both stood there, waiting for the other to say something. The woman was somehow imposing: maybe it was the effect of her wolf armor, that he had seen somewhere, although he could not really remember where. Then, he thought about the situation he was in: unsure of where he was and of what awaited him at his destination. Looking at the imperial, who seemed unbothered by the cold and able to fight, his decision was made:

"I'll help you get inside Windhelm if you come with me at Kynesgrove. Got some business I must take care of. Do you know how to fight, Imperial?"

"I'm quite efficient with an axe, and you won't get better healing spells than the ones I use. Is that enough for you?"

"I just hope you can wield a bow, too. I'm Helkir, by the way." He extended his arm to shake her hand.

"Ellyra."

"You know how to get us to Kynesgrove?"

She nodded and turned around, ready to walk into the blizzard to their destination. As he followed her, Helkir noticed how she quickly walk through the snow, as if she was used to it like a true nord. She could also find her way easily in the weather. The conclusion he made was that she was not born in Cyrodiil, like many Imperials, but that she had lived forever in Skyrim and probably in the most northern parts. Otherwise, there was no explication to her accurate sense of direction.

The snowstorm seemed to calm down when they arrived in Kynesgrove. It was the middle of the day: through the once thick clouds, they could see a pale sun trying to pierce the sky with his light. As soon as they approached the small settlement, a woman hurried to talk to them. Her panic was visible:

"No, you don't want to go up there! A dragon… It's attacking!" she said before she ran away from Kynesgrove.

Helkir smiled a continued towards the town: they could already a dark dragon circling the hill next to the town. Ellyra walked next to the nord man, her eyes locked on the dragon. She had never seen anything like it: it was bigger than a house and darker than night.

"Don't tell me that the business you need to take care of is that dragon. Please don't." she said, not really waiting for an answer.

They ran up the hill, sneaking away from the dragon's view. Helkir recognized the dragon that attacked Helgen; he also recognized Delphine, the mysterious woman that asked him to come to Kynesgrove, crouching and observing the creature. It was circling a well-known dragon burial site. With Ellyra following him closely, he managed to get next to Delphine unnoticed to look at was the creature was doing.

With a powerful shout from the dragon, the earth shook, and something started to move beneath the ground. A skeletal creature emerged with a loud sound. All Helkir and Delphine could do was watch while another dragon returned from the dead, slowly regaining its scales. Ellyra was staring at the beasts, wondering if they would have to take down the town of them. Suddenly, the dark dragon began to speak towards the small group.

"Ful, losei Dovahkiin? Zu'u koraav nid nol dov do hi…You do not even know our tongue, do you? Such arrogance, to dare take for yourself the name of Dovah."

After he uttered a few words to the other dragon, he flew away, leaving the group with the other dragon to deal with.

Without wanting to wait around to find out what the dragon would do, Delphine shot an arrow through one of his eyes. The beast growled in anger and flew up high, shouting fire. Helkir took out his bow and shot the dragon as best as he could, which was quite difficult as it would never come back to the ground. It seemed to dodge almost every arrow, until Helkir decided to shoot the frostbite spell at it instead. His attacks made him slower, which allowed Delphine and Ellyra to hit it with their arrows.

It took a while only to get the dragon to stop flying, but the combat was not over. As he got closer to the beast, Helkir planted his axe into its leg. While the two others were still shooting arrows, the dragon shouted fire at everything, burning the surrounding trees to a crisp. Suddenly, Helkir heard a yell:

"I'm gonna try to get his attention!" Ellyra said, moving around the dragon and shooting arrows without really looking at what they were hitting.

It worked: the dragon was focusing on the imperial woman and was getting ready to breathe fire. The rest happened fast: Helkir jumped on its head as it let out fire out of its mouth and towards Ellyra. It let out a loud growl before its head touched the ground: the beast was dead.

Ellyra had jumped away from the line of fire just in time. To make sure she was not hurt, she cast an healing spell and felt her body feel lighter. She then went back to Helkir and Delphine.

"I'll be damned, you really did it!" Delphine exclaimed, her eyes locked on the dragon's dead body. "Wait, something's happening… gods above!"

After some sort of thundering sound, a strange power rose from the dead body and into Helkir. Immediately, Ellyra knew what had happened. The dragon lost his scales once again, only to become a pile of old bones. The imperial's eyes went back and forth between the nord and the bones, shaking her head in disbelief:

"I can't believe it… You're… Dragonborn?"


End file.
